Homemade Root Beer

Growing up I drank a lot of soda. My grandmother had an entire refrigerator devoted to the stuff. And I loved it. Giving up soda was a really big step for me. I started drinking more water and realized that sometimes I was eating just because I needed something to munch on while I drank my corn syrup, aspartame, and food dye filled drinks. Giving up soda for a while was eye-opening. But I'm a believer in everything in moderation, so I came up with a natural root beer syrup to satisfy my sweet tooth. 

This is definitely a grown up root beer. Make a root beer float with it and drizzle a little extra root beer syrup over the ice cream.  Or something tells me this could be magical in a cocktail. Enjoy!

Homemade Root Beer Syrup

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sassafras bark

1 star anise

1 vanilla bean, scraped (but put the whole pod in)

1/8 cup dried wintergreen

3 cups water

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp honey

2.5 cups coconut sugar

Combine sassafras, wintergreen, star anise, vanilla, and water in a sauce pan over high heat.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain the water using a mesh strainer or cheese cloth and return liquid to heat.  Add molasses, honey, and sugar and stir until combined.  Bring to a boil again and then simmer for an additional 15 minutes.  Allow it to cool and then store in a sealed container. 

Combine 2 tbsp of root beer syrup with 12 oz. sparkling water. Stir and serve.